The present invention relates to the field of human-computer interaction, and in particular to user interfaces for navigating through complex databases.
Computer networks have become ubiquitous in business, industry, and education. Development and wide acceptance of the Internet have enabled network resources, accounts and applications to become available from almost anywhere in the world and at virtually anytime. The Internet is most commonly used in the World Wide Web (“The Web”) environment. The Web uses the hypertext protocols to present information, which greatly simplifies the information retrieval by users.
These developments have enabled networks to serve as a platform for global electronic commerce, as seen by the rise of Yahoo!, EBay and Amzaon.com. The Web also enables easy exchange of information between businesses and their customers, suppliers and partners.
Businesses of any significant size now see the Internet and effective use of computers as being crucial to their business strategies. This has led to a great demand for business or enterprise applications that are used to better organize, store, and process data. Increasingly, these enterprise applications are being provided in a portal environment due to its ease of use and effectiveness in integrating together complex databases having different formats. These databases may also be stored in many different geographic locations. One example of the enterprise portal is mySAP.com™ by SAP, AG, a German software company.
Among other issues, the construction and maintenance of user interfaces is becoming central problem for a large, complex systems, such as a portal. User interfaces are the bridge between applications and users, and, as a result, have to cope with the complexities of both.
Faster and more capable machines and networks are providing users with more functionalities and more information, but at the same time are overwhelming them with more commands and options. User interfaces need to become more intelligent to assist users in performing their tasks, i.e., make it easier for the users to navigate through various data sources and retrieve desired information.